France is set to vote out another PM. Can anything break its political deadlock?published at 13:30 British Summer Time 8 September

13:30 BST 8 September

Andrew Harding
Paris correspondent

Image source, Reuters

France's parliament – deadlocked for a year and more poisonously divided than it has been in decades – looks set to throw out yet another prime minister on Monday.

But the acute sense of drama surrounding this latest vote of confidence inside Paris's Assemblée Nationale is counterbalanced by a despondent consensus that the almost inevitable removal of 74-year-old François Bayrou, after nine relatively ineffectual months in office, will do nothing to break France's political stalemate.

The prime minister, a consensus-seeking figure from south-west France with a tendency to frown and to bluster, initiated Monday's surprise vote himself, seeking, as he explained it, to "shock" politicians into agreeing on a way to tackle the country's looming debt crisis.

But Bayrou's gamble – variously characterised as a kamikaze gesture, a pointless Cassandra-like prophecy, and an attempt to end his political career with a heroic act of self-sacrifice – looks almost certain to end in failure later on.

• Bayrou is set to speak in the National Assembly from 15:00 local time (14:00 BST), before lawmakers vote from around 18:00 BST. Stay with us for updates, analysis and reaction throughout